Blocking a shawl

 First, I knit the center of the shawl - this is Estonian Lace and the edging is knit on.  You can see that both ends have live stitches.  I pick up stitches all along each side.  This baby looks like it's only about 3' long and 6" wide but it's lace, so it will grow when I block it.

This is the same thing with all the edge stitches picked up - I think I picked up something like 170+ stitches on each side and I had about 48 on each end.  It was a lot of stitches anyway.

The edging is now knit - still doesn't look like much.

 I laid it on the blocking boards to show what it looks like before.

This is as spread out as it will stay before blocking - notice that it is only 4' long and less than a foot wide.

 We give it a nice bath with a good soak.

Then I lay it in the center of a beach towel.

 Fold both sides over the middle so I have two thickness of towel on the inside of the roll and one on the outside - lots of towel to absorb water.

Then I roll up the towel and dance on it a while.  Now the knitting is still damp but will dry quickly.

 Then I lay it out, and pin it to it's full size.  As you can see it has grown to about 18" wide and 5' long - each tile is one foot square.

Stretched out you can really see the beauty of the lace - love those nupps!

And the final product!  

Teresa